In 2016, CPG advertisers are projected to spend almost $6 billion on digital advertising. This represents an 18% increase over 2015.

How consumer goods companies can elevate the role of IT to improve consumer engagement.

The future is here and it has taken the form of Amazon's Echo, a combination wireless speaker, virtual assistant, and smarthome hub. What makes the Echo feel like a prop out of the "Jetsons" is not just its innovative hardware - Amazon has essentially created an entirely new category - but rather several new opportunities for a range of services and products. It's no surprise that "The New York Times" gave it a rave review.

Have you ever searched for "consumer packaged goods" images? What comes up is myriad endless, blurry, retail aisles, often in dully lit, outdated grocery or drug stores. (Needless to say, I don't suspect anyone is posting them with #blessed.)

2015 was an exciting year for CPG brands and e-commerce. Driven primarily by Amazon, CPG e-commerce sales soared 42%. While e-commerce is often less than 10% of CPG sales and less than 5% for major CPG brands such as P&G, J&J and Unilever, this exceptional sales growth is a signal to marketers. The channel's growth potential presents a considerable market opportunity that requires a different strategy from brick-and-mortar purchases. Differentiation, growth and market share are challenging for established CPG brands, but being a dedicated adopter of digital channels may be one of the most effective strategies to keep an advantage …

In The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway's drunken, brawling character, Mike Campbell, responds to the question, "How did you go bankrupt?" with this answer: "Two ways. Gradually and then suddenly."

I grabbed coffee with a girlfriend this week and she raved about a new restaurant in the Lower East Side of Manhattan called Charlie Bird. I immediately wrote it down and committed it to next weekend's brunch plans. It's that simple.

A metaphor is defined as "an object, activity, or idea that is used as a symbol of something else." Metaphors are everywhere in the world of advertising, frequently seen in the form of a spokescharacter. A well-chosen metaphor can significantly impact an ad's motivational power as a brand derives meaning from the spokescharacter used to represent it.

The American Dream is changing. It started as a statement as the right to the pursuit of happiness within "The Declaration of Independence" and has since been defined by the people.